Mavis and the Track Repairs
by DonaldDouglasandToby6
Summary: When Mavis hears one of Salty's tall tales, she becomes worried that the story is real. Things get worse for her when she has to run maintenance work at night. (K-plus just to be safe.)


Mavis the Quarry Diesel works hard at the Ffarquhar Quarry, shunting trucks into place.

Once in a while she is allowed to bring trucks to Brendam Docks, where the stone can be put onto ships.

One day, Mavis was taking a train of stone to the Docks while Toby worked at the quarry.

"It's nice to get out of the quarry once in a while," she said to herself.

She could see Brendam Docks approaching in the distance.

"I hope Cranky is not so cross today; last time he dropped bags of flour all over Toby." Mavis chuckled, remembering.

Soon she arrived at the Docks to find it very busy indeed.

"Oh my." Mavis said as she puffed by Molly.

"Sorry Mavis, I'm afraid I can't help you right now," apologized Porter, "But we have to get Molly's delivery of meat onto the ship first. I'm afraid you'll have to wait."

"Oh, that's quite alright," said Mavis, "I suppose I can listen to one of Salty's stories while I sit here."

"You do that," growled Cranky, "Just don't go near me. Those things give me a headache!"

Salty was shunting some trucks of metal over to a siding when Mavis crept up alongside.

"Hello there matey!" Mavis laughed, trying to imitate Salty.

Salty chuckled.

"Argh, and what brings you about?"

"I'm here with my stone, but... the ship has to get Molly's delivery first."

"I suppose you want to hear a story then?"

"Yes please."

So this was the story Salty told.

"A long time ago, when the Ffarquhar Branch Line was just made, there was a man who loved to burn things. Always in his home was a fire burning wood or paper or whatever he could find. One night, he was strolling along the tracks looking for weeds to burn when a passenger train ran up right behind him. He couldn't jump out of the way, and the train hit him..."

Salty paused, looking over to see if anybody else was listening, and sure enough, everybody else was.

Salty frowned slightly and continued his story.

"You may have guessed what had happened to that man afterwards. Some say his ghost still strolls around the Ffarquhar Branch Line, burning trees... Bushes... and with a hot enough temperature, maybe even metal."

The Docks were surprisingly silent as Porter shunted trucks and Cranky lifted and loaded.

Mavis was terrified.

"Heaving hooks!" she cried, "How am I going to get sleep tonight?"

Salty was about to reply when Porter interrupted.

"Mavis, bring your trucks over here; they can be unloaded now."

Mavis nearly jumped as she shunted the trucks over to Cranky.

Just then Bill and Ben arrived with some China clay.

"Well hello there Mavis," teased Bill, "Why are you so pale?"

Mavis didn't answer; she was too spooked.

"Oh, poor Mavis!" laughed Ben, "Such a scaredy engine!"

"Stop it," scolded BoCo, who had been at the Docks with some passengers, "Mavis is a kind Diesel, and she doesn't need you two in her face."

Bill and Ben rolled their eyes.

"Cool your cooling fans BoCo," grumbled Bill, "Take a joke."

As soon as the stone was unloaded, Mavis trundled away to the Ffarquhar Quarry with her empty trucks.

At the quarry, Toby was working hard, shunting trucks into another long line.

Henrietta waited on a siding.

"Here comes Mavis, Toby. Make sure you have those trucks ready." the coach said, "And are you sure Mavis can pull those?"

Toby sighed, "I know, Henrietta. I'm practically done now anyway. And yes, Mavis is a strong engine."

He was almost finished when Mavis arrived.

"Hello there Mavis," Toby puffed cheerily but Mavis didn't respond.

Toby rang his bell to get her attention, but Mavis still didn't respond.

"Mavis? Mavis, are you all right?"

Mavis was shot out of her thoughts and back into reality.

"Huh? What? Oh, hi Toby."

"Why are you so pale?" asked Toby worriedly.

Mavis sighed.

"Salty told a story about a man who burns metal, and I'm worried he'll come and burn me!"

Toby looked a bit startled.

Before he could console Mavis, the manager arrived.

"Mavis, we will start maintenance tonight since we can't afford to not be in business today." he said to Mavis, "Some tracks and quarry walls need repair and stability."

Mavis was worried.

"What? But.. I'll be tired." she partly lied; she truly was tired, but not too much considering Toby did all the hard work that day.

"It's alright Mavis, you'll have the night shift tomorrow so you can sleep all day." said the manager.

Mavis wasn't happy at all as the manager walked away.

"Oh boy..."

Toby looked over to Mavis.

"There's no "Metal Man" or whatever your story is. It's just a tall tale Salty uses to get engines to behave. I hear it even worked on Gordon once or twice." Toby chuckled.

Mavis sighed.

"I don't know Toby, i just don't think I can do this."

She scuttled away to take Toby's line of trucks.

Toby was now very worried indeed. "I wish there was something I can do to help..."

Mavis arrived at Elsbridge to drop off a truck of stone for a building project.

Daisy was on the other platform.

"Hello there dear," said Daisy, "What are you up to?"

"Nothing special..." Mavis said quietly as the truck was uncoupled and the brakevan recoupled.

Mavis oiled away, much to Daisy's surprise.

"Mavis usually talks a lot... Hmm, something must be on her mind. The poor dear, must've gotten some bad fuel or something. Oh well," and Daisy purred out of the station in the opposite direction.

Night soon came, but to Mavis it came too soon.

Her driver woke her up to start the maintenance work.

"Come on, Mavis. Time to wake up; we've got the night shift, remember?"

"Do I have to?" Mavis cried, looking around cautiously.

"It's alright Mavis, I'm here with you. There's no madman with a torch running about like a maniac."

Mavis felt a bit better, but still wasn't sure as she crept out of her shed.

She looked around in fright and to her dismay there weren't any lights minus the flashlights the workmen were using.

Her driver patted Mavis to console her, but she was still very worried indeed as the men started to repair a length of track that she often had to be careful on.

Toby was taking his usual night run along the branch line.

"Come along Henrietta, we must reach Dryaw on time."

"Of course," replied his faithful coach as he approached the station.

Toby stopped to let passengers on and off.

He yawned.

"I'm glad this is my last run for today," he said to his coaches, "I'm poofed."

"Probably because you did a lot of work at the quarry today," chuckled Henrietta, "I was left in the carriage shed for most of the day along with Victoria and Elsie."

Toby laughed as the guard blew his whistle.

"Don't worry, I'll be having more passenger runs tomorrow. My driver has the schedule."

An hour passed before Toby reached Ffarquhar.

"At last," he yawned, "I'll go to the quarry tonight; I can't stand Daisy's boasting, especially not now."

"I understand," replied Henrietta as he shunted her and the other two coaches in a siding.

Toby trundled off on The Quarry Tramroad.

Mavis was still feeling scared at the quarry.

She kept looking up to the top of the quarry walls, making sure nobody was ready to strike.

"Come on Mavis, we need some more rails." called a workman.

Mavis nearly shrieked at the sudden noise as she pushed the flatbed to the workmen.

"Thanks," they said.

Mavis sighed sadly when she heard Toby's bell.

The old steam tram puffed alongside the frightened Diesel.

"Hello Mavis," yawned Toby, "How's the maintenance?"

"Terrible," groaned Mavis, "I'm getting paranoid Toby. I really need help."

Toby thought for a moment.

"I could help out if you want." he offered, "Then you won't be so scared."

Mavis grinned.

"Thanks Toby. I really could use it. But aren't you tired?"

"I'd rather help a friend." Toby said wisely.

So, for the rest of the night, Toby helped Mavis with her maintenance jobs, and soon Mavis was no longer afraid of the "Metal Man."

In fact, by the time they were done, Mavis had forgotten all about it.

By morning, Mavis and Toby were in the shed.

"Thank you for helping me Toby. I really appreciate it."

"It's no problem," yawned Toby, "Now if you excuse me... I need some rest." and he fell asleep at once.

Mavis chuckled as she set off to arrange a train to the Docks.

The trucks were soon shunted, and Mavis backed down onto the train.

"Come along, come along!" Mavis said as she trundled down the line.

Mavis arrived at Brendam Docks all bright and cheerful.

"Hello everyone," she called.

"Hello there Mavis," smiled Porter.

Salty edged over to Mavis, looking guilty.

"Argh matey, I figured out that my story was a bit too scary for ya from Toby last night, and I'm sorry I told it." he apologized.

Mavis smiled.

"It's alright. No real harm done. Everyone has nightmares. I probably should've said something anyway."

And from that point on, Mavis never worried about some madman again.


End file.
